I was trying to see why the rear derailleur was not shifting correctly by shifting up/down multiple times on the bike stand.
During the investigation, the shift cable actually broke.
This is the cable housing end that goes into the side of the shifter/brake lever.
Seems like an unusual failure.
It seems to have broken inside the shift/brake lever.
Broken cable is drooping...
This is the hole in the side of the lever that the shift cable would be fed through when installing a new cable.
The end of the cable with the built-in cylindrical "knob" appears to be stuck inside the lever.
Using a magnet, mini needle-nose pliers, a T-pin & a small pick tool (with some finesse/effort) I was able to fish out the broken piece from the shifter.
I have extra cables, so installed a new shift cable.
Cut it to length and put a cap on the end of the cable.
When tightening the new cable to the derailleur, I adjusted the cable adjuster to a position to allow myself a lot of adjustment in the tightening direction.
This bike is from the days before routing the cable through the frame became more common.
It's nice in that the cable replacement process is pretty easy and fast (don't have to "fish" the cable in and out of the frame...).
